as some may have heard, there is a woman named Alice Johnson. a short version of her story:

“A divorced mother of five children, Johnson was arrested in 1993 and convicted in 1996 of eight federal criminal counts relating to her involvement in a Memphis, Tennessee-based cocaine trafficking organization. In addition to drug conspiracy counts, Johnson was convicted of money laundering and structuring, the latter crime because of her purchase of a house with a down payment structured to avoid hitting a $10,000 reporting threshold. The Memphis operation involved over a dozen individuals. The indictment described Johnson as a leader in a multi-million dollar cocaine ring, and detailed dozens of drug transactions and deliveries. Evidence presented at trial showed that the Memphis operation was connected to Colombian drug dealers based in Texas. Following her conviction, Johnson acknowledged that she was an intermediary in the drug trafficking organization, but said she did not actually make deals or sell drugs.”

after serving 21 years, she was granted clemency by president Trump in May 2018.

while this story gained lots of attention due to Kim Kardashian’s involvement in her early release, there are over 3,000 people serving life sentences after being convicted on NON-VIOLENT charges.

i personally feel very strongly about this subject. there are even marijuana offenders and thieves (who never used a weapon) spending their entire lives in jail!!!! at the very least, prisons should not be referred to as correctional facilities if people who are not direct threats to society cannot receive actual rehabilitation. they are just locked up for life to rot.

i would feel much better if these people served some time and then did a hefty amount of community service, depending on the severity of their crime.

i have no idea how other people feel about this subject, so i came here to ask!